Of Fatherhood and Alien Babies
by Rahmi
Summary: Ben reacts to the events in "Save the Last Dance." A problem pops up while he's moping; it's small, blue, and cute.
1. Chapter 1

Ben pretends he doesn't remember. It's easier that way, you know? He can have Julie explain that he was eating metal and pretend he doesn't remember the feel of liquid steel sliding down his throat, he can let Kevin tease and taunt without wanting to burst into tears.

Most of the time, he thinks it would be better if it _had_ been all Big Chill doing it and nothing of him. Big Chill's not the one who'd never hurt Julie, though, or the one who gnawed on Kevin's clothes but would never have broken his skin.

That was all Ben. And Ben. Ben remembers.

There are twelve little pieces of himself out there, growing in the frozen wasteland between stars, feeding and living and _breathing_ because of him.

Sometimes, he just lays out under the stars and aches for them, his tiny little offspring, way up there in space. He's not a girl, alright? He's not, no matter what stupid Kevin likes to tease him about, a sly, "You want me to grab you some pickles?" every now and then.

He doesn't even remember carrying them around, not when it was happening, but for days afterwards he's surprised at how _light_ he feels, something intrinsic gone in a flash. His stomach's flatter, not that he'd been flabby or anything to begin with, but.

Smoothing a hand down his belly leaves him feeling stupidly empty. He wonders if this is how Sandra felt after she'd had him.

"Sandra," he doesn't say at dinner, pushing food into his mouth and keeping one hand clenched tight low on his stomach, "Did you ever feel empty after you had me? Like something was gone and you weren't sure you were ever gonna get it back?"

Yeah, he can see how well that'd go down. He'd have both Sandra and Carl asking him frantically if he'd impregnated a girl. And, yeah, his parents are freakishly liberal about most stuff, but he's pretty sure that's one thing no parents wanna think about.

So he keeps his mouth shut and clambers onto his roof afterwards, needing to see the night. He needs. He needs to be close to his kids, okay? The only things in the entire universe that share strands of _his_ DNA, little pieces of him that flew away to find themselves.

"Be safe," he says, spreading his palms. He can see the stars through his fingers, bright white light in the dark, and he curls his hands like he can grab it and haul his... his babies back to him.

The universe is a really big place. It's full of death and aliens intent on taking it over. He can barely fight them off sometimes. How were a dozen tiny infants going to survive out there without him to back them up?

"I am _such a girl,_" Ben hisses and rolls over onto his stomach. He digs his hands into his hair and pulls, hard.

Something chirps at him. Ben lifts his head incredulously. Really? It's the middle of the night. There shouldn't be any birds up and it hadn't--

There's a Necrofriggian hovering at eye level. An infant, all huge green eyes and tiny chubby hands and feet. It gives him a purring, chittering sound when he makes eye contact.

Its small wings flutter. Ben's stupid, girl heart flutters too. "Hey there," he says. "Shouldn't you be up there?"

It chitters again.

Ben holds out his hands and the Necrofriggian drops into them with an exhausted sounding trill. It weighs next to nothing, even though it's about the size of Ben's head, and stares up at him through first one compound eye, then the other.

It's shaking in his hands. Its shivers are almost enough to make Ben start shaking.

"You too tired to get all the way up there?" Ben asks. He sits back on his heels and cradles it to his chest. It eases the ache. He's really, really glad that Kevin isn't around to make fun of him right now.

It squeaks at him and makes a clumsy go of wrapping its wings around itself like Ben knows it _should_ while resting. It screws it up, though, one paper-thin antenna draping across its eye while its wings tangle haphazardly into one another.

Ben laughs. "Lemme get that for you," he says.

The baby Necrofriggian trembles trustingly in the cradle of his knees, tilting its head this way and that as Ben carefully folds and wraps the wings the way he knows they should go. They're paper-thin, but heavy, strong. He hasn't torn a wing yet, so he's not concerned about touching them.

"There," he says, satisfied. The Necrofriggian purrs up at him and lifts the two small wings at the base of its neck to wave them at Ben's face. "Hey, come on, I just fixed those!" he laughs.

It purrs louder, adding a chitter on the end. It's still shaking though and Ben spends a second fiddling with the Omnitrix because. Well. He needs to know. Nobody's ever accused him of not being a slave to his curiosity.

"Big Chill," he hisses out, his wings fanning wide even as he cradles the baby to his broader chest.

It coos up at him and Ben purrs back down at it, the sound coming from deep in his throat, where some organ steals all the warmth from the air and sends back frost.

He knows, suddenly, that it's pre-verbal. His baby. "Why aren't you with your siblings?" he asks anyway, his voice an echoing rasp of sound.

_The Runt_, shivers through his skull. _Too small and frail to make it to the stars._ Big Chill tilts their head and this is _weird_, like, really, really weird. Usually, his aliens don't talk to him.

It's all instincts, though, not actually his alien form whispering in his ear. It's not Alien X, Ben tells himself firmly, even if it did get him pregnant and let their children go off alone into the universe.

"So, what's gonna happen to you?" Ben asks. It trills up into his face and spreads its wings like him, stretching, as it looks up into the dark sky.

_Death_, his instincts murmurs. _Too weak to feed._

"What?" Ben asks out loud. His double hearts thump hard in his chest, off time and off beat. "No! I'm not just going to. I can't let him die."

The Necrofriggian scratches at the top of its head with one claw and it's like the thing is _designed_ to look as cute and harmless as possible. Just. No. He wasn't going to let a piece of him _die_ and.

His dreams are already haunted with tiny skeletons, three toed feet and four fingered hands and sloping skulls, fragile and bleached and broken. No. He's not going to let it happen to one of his kids.

It shivers up against his chest as he lets the transformation go. Food, Ben thinks. Solar plasma, Kevin'd said, and Ben looks up at the sky and cradles his baby closer to his chest with a frown.

He can get up there. If a bunch of infant (_his_ infant) aliens could get up there to eat, so could he.

But for right now, Big Chill'd whispered an alternative, clean fire and molten lava. Ben scratches at the Necrofriggian's skull with a tentative finger and it purrs loud at him, still shaking.

His kid is exhausted and hungry. He transforms again and feels his alien mouth attempt its version of a smile when the baby squeaks happily and flutters its wings up at him.

"I'm gonna call you Nippy," Ben says.

Nippy tilts his head and blinks twice, its antenna floating up to touch feather light on Ben's blue skin. Ben spreads his wings into the cold air and pulls out all the heat he can, funneling it into the shuddering ball of _infant_ cradled to his chest. It perks up a little, its shivers winding down.

Inside, where he always thinks of himself as human, Ben smiles.

"Don't worry," Ben whispers down at it, "I'll take care of you."

Sandra and Carl've said that he watches too much TV, but at least he'd been paying attention to those PSAs on fatherhood. Nippy's his, his baby, his egg, his responsibility.

* * *

_Ben's mpreg babies made me giggle when I saw them, so, of course, I had to turn around and make him angst about them instead._


	2. Chapter 2

_Just another bit of Ben and his baby. Now with Gwen and Kevin._

* * *

"What is that?" Kevin asks.

Ben glances at his shoulder. "A Necrofriggian," he says, like Kevin's a complete _moron_ and can't see that for himself.

"I think what Kevin means is:" Gwen says diplomatically, "Why is there a Necrofriggian on your shoulder, Ben?"

The kid shrugs and reaches up with one hand to grab the little blue alien around his chubby middle. It purrs loudly as he holds it up, Tennyson's hands small enough that he's got to use two of them. "He came back."

The Necrofriggian trills at them for a second before Kevin sees that they lost its attention. It wriggles in Ben's hands and flares its wings, chittering up at Ben.

"It came back?" Kevin asks, crossing his arms. "And you didn't think that this was something important you could have told us?"

"Why would it be important?" Ben asks. He lets the alien crawl up his arm to perch on his shoulder again and then reaches back when it makes a tiny, frustrated noise.

Kevin has to boggle at the sight of Tennyson tucking the alien's wings around it like a security blanket or something.

"Ben," Gwen says gently, "Ben, you know you can't keep it, right? It belongs up there. It needs to eat."

The Necrofriggian coos at the side of Ben's head. It turns its head to blink huge, green eyes at both Kevin and Gwen and Ben swallows whatever it is he's chewing on and says, "I'm feeding him."

"Chocolate and pickles _don't count_." Gwen crosses her arms and widens her stance into what Kevin's dubbed the "I'm gonna start throwing crap and bein' sexy" look. "You're going to kill it, Ben. Think about what's best for him and let him go."

Ben loses color so fast that Kevin wants to check that the Necrofriggian hasn't, like, frozen him solid or something. The horrified, sick look on Ben's face makes Kevin want to hit something.

"You think I'd do that to my own...?" Ben swallows hard, one hand coming up to cradle the Necrofriggian against his neck. "He can't survive out there yet, Gwen. He can't. I'm not just going to let him _die_ because you think it'd be better if he was gone."

Kevin finds himself restraining Gwen when she moves forward automatically. He can't tell if she's trying to soothe her cousin or take the alien from Ben, but the way Tennyson's eyes are dilating, the way he's standing, the Omnitrix slowly rising. That just spells out trouble that they don't need, not between the three of them.

He'd been the one they were after the last time, but he's got a feeling that if anyone tries to get between Ben and his _kids_ that they were going to find themselves splatted messily.

Gwen drops the hand she'd been reaching for the alien with and takes a good look at Ben's face. "Ben," she says, trailing off helplessly.

On the other hand, Kevin does not see the problem with this. Well, yeah, it's an alien, but so are half the Plumber kids. And it's not doing anything, it's just a ridiculous, chubby ball of blue baby, its wings almost thin enough that he can see light coming through.

It's just a baby. Just Ben's baby.

And, that's the big point, he's gotta admit. It's freakish and weird and Ben's obviously got issues or something, but Kevin gets _family_. Ben's this thing's mom and its dad and. Well. Most people in the world couldn't help but love their spawn.

"You're sure it's not gonna die down here?" Kevin asks after Gwen's just stood there for a couple seconds, looking lost.

"Yeah." Ben curls his hand around the side of the Negrofriggian's tiny head and nods. "Big Chill can get him up into space when he needs to do his big feedings, but, yeah. He's alright down here. Their homeworld is a lot hotter than this one is."

The baby trills up at Ben again and waves its antenna around. Gwen continues to boggle. Kevin shrugs at all three of them and decides that it's not any worse than Tennyson's girl having a pet that can turn into a rocket ship.

He wonders if he can tune up his car while Gwen's busy not harassing him.

Ben takes another bite out of the banana in his hand and grins. "I call him Nippy," he says.

Kevin groans under his breath. "Oh," he says, "Ha ha."


	3. Con of Rath

_Written post Con of Rath, which I just saw last night. I wanted Ben to get twitchier about the baby eating. Yes, pairings remain the same as in-show._

* * *

"I'm thinking about filing for custody," Julie says. "I mean, I am the go-to babysitter here. What happens if we break up?"

Ben raises an eyebrow. "Are you breaking up with me?" he asks. Nippy curls up against his neck and trills; his wings are cold and hard when they smack into Ben's cheek. "I think I'll get full custody. I am his dad."

Julie rolls her eyes. "I could be his honorary Mom," she says. "He's adorable. I wouldn't mind."

"No, that's Ben too," Kevin calls from the ramp of the ship, "Hurry up, Tennyson, we've got a baby to deliver."

"That sounds so wrong." Julie pries Nippy away from him. "Are you pregnant again, Ben?"

"Oh, ha-ha," Ben says. He leans forward to tap Nippy sternly between his eyes before the Necrofriggian can start wailing. "Be good for Julie, okay? Don't freeze her pipes again."

Nippy coos, tilting his head and flicking his wings until Ben laughs. He waves as he walks backwards, feeling stupid and not really caring when Nippy starts waving antennae back happily, chittering across the space at him.

"If you're done acting like an overprotective parent," Kevin says, "We really should be _going._"

Ben opens and closes his hand at Nippy, smiling even as he grits his teeth and says, "Geez, I'm coming. For someone who made _us_ late earlier, you sure are in a hurry."

"You're both slow," Gwen says.

She passes over the Tiffin when he walks by her. He takes it automatically, then holds it at arms length when it starts making... noises. Look, he's got a baby Necrofriggian, he's used to Necro purrs. The Tiffin just sounds kind of like that Tamagotchi thing he accidentally killed when he was ten mixed with a Jurassic Park raptor.

The Tiffin's eyes squint and it makes some kind of weird squeaking noise. Ben is not down with this. "No, hey, I don't want it!" he says.

"You're the only one on this ship with any baby experience, Ben."

Ben eyes her. She really does have an evil grin, he decides, right before he lets his own evil smile spread across his face. "That's exactly why you need to hold it," he says, shoving it into her arms. "Think of it as practice for when you and Kevin have one."

He tucks his hands into his pockets and throws himself into a seat while she sputters.

* * *

Rath's a simple alien. The people in the cockpit with him are Kevin E. Levin (Ally-needs to be taught his place), Gwen Tennyson (Ally-family), and Baby (Infant-protect). Somewhere on Earth is Nippy Tennyson (Infant-_MINE_) and Julie Yamamoto (Ally-maybe mate). Everything else in the universe is either Not-Ally or Blood-Enemy.

And, man, is he itching to find everything else in the universe.

The Baby drifts by and Rath grabs the top of its head with two fingers. Its noises register as _question-hurt me?_ to his ears, but he just bounces it twice and lets it go again. He's bored. He needs to hurt something.

"Hey," he says, raising his voice, "I need to hurt something. Find somewhere to land."

"I don't think that's a very good idea, Ben," Gwen Tennyson says. Her eyes are glowing when he slants a look at her, which makes all of his skin twitch. He likes breathing.

"Let me tell you something, Gwen Tennyson! It's a great idea!"

"I gotta agree with her on this one," Kevin E. Levin says. He spins away from the cockpit, but he doesn't get up and Rath twitches again. If he gets up, he's fair game. Gwen Tennyson made him promise not to fight if Kevin E. Levin was navigating.

"Come on, I need to fight!"

"You need to calm down before I knock you out again."

The Baby says, _question-play with me?_ as it floats over. Rath reaches out to curl one paw around it and bounces it absently against his knee. "You're not my baby," he says, "So I don't know why you want to play."

_Statement-fun!_ the Baby coos.

Rath tickles it with a finger and grumbles. "Fine."

_

* * *

_

_Attention, _the Tiffin chitters, then it makes_ Gross and wet and scared_ noises at him.

"Yeah, I know," Rath says, patting the top of its damp head, "Same here."

He doesn't kill Jarett of Pantophage (Blood-Enemy), but he really, really wants to. Gwen Tennyson should appreciate his impulse control. His whole skin twitches with loathing while he walks out, the Tiffin snuggled to his chest.

"Ben?" Gwen Tennyson asks. "Are you alright?"

Don't talk to me right now. Do not make me turn around and see that fat blob of red baby eating monster because I will kill it if we don't leave now. I will spread chunks of it across this planet and maybe I'll even _chew on it_, because that's what Rath wants to do to make sure it's _dead._

_Question-alright?_ the Tiffin croons.

Rath's too stupid to articulate everything Ben's thinking, so what comes out is, "Whatever."

* * *

Getting home takes way too long and makes him way too twitchy. "He ate the baby!" he says when Kevin tells him to relax.

"It wasn't _your baby_," Gwen points out. "Relax Ben, seriously. This is almost as bad as riding with Rath. I'm sure Nippy's perfectly fine."

Ben shoves his hands in his hair and pulls. "There's ten more!" Ten more stupid little baby Necrofriggians that might get _eaten _and he's never even _thought about it_ before now! "And I don't know where any of them are!"

"Calm _down_, Ben."

He almost wants to transfer into Rath again. The Appoplexian, at least, would have probably decided to do something about this instead of just freaking out at Kevin and Gwen. "There's a race out there that _eats babies!_ I can't be the only one worried about this!"

"You're the only one throwing a fit over it," Kevin says. "Did _not_ think I'd live to see the day you turned into a Mama Bear, Tennyson."

"Shut up," Ben says crankily. "You fainted when he ate the Tiffin."

Gwen swivels her chair around and blows her bangs out of her eyes. "It wasn't even a Necrofriggian," she says. "I mean, _I_ wouldn't have eaten the Tiffin, but he did kind of look like a cream-puff, Ben."

"He ate the baby!"

"It got better." Kevin gets up, ruffling his hair on his way to the back of the ship. "Seriously, I'm pretty sure Necros taste really bad. I've never heard of anything wanting to eat one."

"Not making me feel better, _Kev._"

"Was I supposed to be, _Benji_? My bad."

* * *

Ben doesn't bother knocking on Julie's door. Nippy doesn't like staying inside unless he's curled up next to a space heater and Ben's the only one with a Kevin Levin alien tech certified heater hot enough for the Necrofriggian. They've gotten be outside.

Sure enough, he can hear Julie laughing.

Nippy hits him in the chest with a purring chirp when he rounds the back of the house. "Nippy!" Ben exclaims happily. "Did you have a good day? Did you?"

Tiny claws catch in his shirt as Nippy's eyes glitter up at him. The baby makes familiar, nonsense noises; the Tiffin'd spoiled him, Ben realizes suddenly, hefting Nippy up to face height. The Necrofriggian is still too young to talk. Rath had understood the Tiffin.

No such luck here.

"I like you better than him anyway," Ben decides. He flicks one of Nippy's antennae and grins when the baby makes disgruntled noises and wraps it down around his eye. "That is so not how that wing is supposed to fold."

"Ah, how heartwarming," Kevin says. "It almost makes me want to be a teenage dad slash mom too. Almost."

Ben smiles at Nippy. "Do you want another beat down from Rath?" he asks through gritted teeth. Nippy tilts its head in confusion, squints his eye almost closed under his antenna, and goes back to making grumpy sounds. "'Cause I can arrange that, Kevin."

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Kevin lift his hands and back up. Ben narrows a glare at his stupid, mocking face when the other boy just leans against the house and _smirks_, but he's saved from having to pry Nippy off and go for the Omnitrix by Julie.

"You know, I'm starting to feel a little left out, here," she says. Julie's looking at him when he drags his eyes away from Nippy's frustrated attempts at wrapping his wings. He has the best girlfriend in the world, seriously, because she just looks like she wants to laugh instead of being annoyed. "Did something happen?"

"Ben watched a baby get eaten," Gwen says. "Don't worry. He fixed it. He's still feeling a little twitchy, though."

Nippy trills all of a sudden and clambers from Ben's chest to his head. Ben crosses his suddenly free arms and tries to ignore the fact that he's got an alien baby's naked butt pressed against his skull. As far as he knows, Nippy doesn't poop like normal babies, but it's still kind of... gross.

"How is it that I'm the only one still freaked out that he _ate the baby_?" he demands.

"You know," Kevin says, "Nobody can take you seriously when you have a fat blue baby on your head."

"Hey! He's not fat!"

"He's a porker, Tennyson, admit it. What have you been feeding him?"

"Gwen," Ben says decisively, "Take Nippy for a second, okay? I have to go beat up a jerk."

Nippy levitates off his head in a bubble of pink that makes him squeal happily. Ben runs a hand over his hair to make sure there's no special alien cooties leftover, and then stalks towards Kevin.

"Ah," Gwen says, "Look at you be all protective. It's cute."

Ben mentally adds her to the list of people to beat up, right underneath Kevin, and twists the Omnitrix into place.


End file.
